So it appears as if we are experiencing a mild thaw in the cryptocurrency markets, which in this case means the bears goes into hibernation, the exact opposite of real life, which may be part of the problem with crypto in the first place. Just like the open-source Linux community in the early 2000's, promising a Windows like desktop experience, what most people found then was a steep learning-curve, dependency hell, and a less than expected user-friendly experience. With the introduction of more robust distros like Ubuntu, things are much better than they were.

Which brings me to crypto. The market appears to be taking off again, but consumer interest is waning, why is that? Well it might have something to do with the high uncertainty of the technology, the massive amount of fraudulent ICO's and Masternode scams, confusion about regulations and taxes, and also, a really unfriendly user experience. If I can think of one thing that bothers me more than the volatile markets, and SEC foot-dragging, it's more hassle to make what should work, just work.

Confusing wallet GUI's, or console based wallets that the average user has no idea how to use, wallets not synching, the process of sending and receiving, and how to pay the gas can be frustrating, coupled with poorly-written, or written in geek-speak tutorials, and many people who may have dipped their feet in the crypto-ocean have run away like a shark-attack just happened. But, that's ok for now. The technology is still evolving and some of the uses for blockchain that exist now are revolutionary, and I see more innovation happening every day; but how do we bridge the gap between what crypto-enthusiasts, blockchain pioneers, and miners want, and what end-users need or will actually use.

Some projects can't define whether they're building for consumer social networking, or corporate back-end management, some projects have great ideas, and no way to implement them, and even more still seem like lost-souls adrift on a sea of no-fucks given. To me, there are three memes in blockchain...dogecoin, exit scams, and 'why the hell do we need another privacy coin that doesn't do anything?' No focus, no clearly defined end game, and waning interest from miners and enthusiast investors, who are tired of putting in the work for a project that; even if it does manage to get on an exchange, has little chance to creating decent liquidity, or commanding anything more than a 1 sat price.

The one good thing in all this mess is that investors still see the potential, and the lack of interest, and tightening regulations are slowly putting an end to the exit scammers, the shitcoin projects, and just clearing away the debris from the storm of garbage that has flooded the markets in recent years. While I detest the grip of government in the internet and crypto spheres, in this instance, the SEC actually helped correct the outrageous imbalance that was plaguing the industry.

While I am thrilled that the markets are showing signs of life again, I'm still pensive about diving in any deeper in the current conditions. I am focusing now on finding staking pools and coins that have a purpose, and an active development base, investing in a select few coins that show promise, and mining coins that have a great balance between profit and power consumption.

For instance, I can mine Grin quite well and save 50-100 watts of power over ETH in the process. As much as I love mining, I can't sustain the electric bills when they're coupled with the extremely cold weather and rising gas prices over the winter. Gas becomes burdensome expensive, and electric heaters are twice as power-hungry as my rig, which is the one upside...my rig heats the upstairs quite nicely. (The second floor of our incredibly old house has no direct heating, it's all about rising heat from the many gas radiators on the first floor, which is ok, but still quite inefficient.)

If I am who I think I am, and If you are who I think you are, and you are who you think you are, and we both know that we are thinking that we know what we think we know, and we have thought about this all before we knew that we knew it, than perhaps we know who we are, and I know you and you know me, and we all live in an alien spacecraft under the sea.